


Corruption

by The_Mad_Hatter



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Corruption, Fearlings (Guardians of Childhood), Hurt/Comfort, hurt in battle, rotgsecretsanta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-20 15:42:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13149765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Mad_Hatter/pseuds/The_Mad_Hatter
Summary: Jack has been corrupted by Pitch's Fearlings and will soon turn into one himself, the Guardians try to save him in time.





	Corruption

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fonsscientae](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=fonsscientae).



> This is my rotg Secret Santa gift to fonsscientae on tumblr!

Jack Frost was having a bad day, which was an generous euphemism for having his ass handed to him spectacularly in this particular fight, he had a long running theory he was the universe's, or at the very least the man in the moon's, whipping boy and that the space time continuum was balanced purely on him being on the receiving end of a painful bashing and today seemed to be one of those instances that proved it. 

There certainly were better ways to be spending his birthday, his three hundred and twentieth, than fighting back an attack from Pitch Black himself and his new and improved army of Fearlings. Nasty things those Fearlings, the other Guardians had explained to him when they had first reappeared a short while back, after realising that corrupting Sandy's magic to create Nightmares wasn't very successful he had reverted back to his old tricks. 

“Guys?!” Jack yelled, peering quick over his shoulder for any sign of his friends, the sleigh had been behind him not only a second ago. Each way he looked he only saw grey clouds and dark swarms of the Nightmare King's monsters, damn it, they had warned him, they had said never get separated when they were up against Fearlings, the creatures were cunning and once they had someone isolated they could confuse and disorientate them. He was too vulnerable, where were the others? Had they gone back down to the ground? “Whoa!” he managed to block a Fearling's attack just in time, smashing the creature around the face with the crook of his staff. That's what he got for keeping still in a battle, he thought as he launched himself back into flight. He needed to find the others and regroup, as much as he hated to admit it he was way out of his depth here and he needed the other Guardians fighting at his side. 

Where the hell where they? He growled to himself, dodging in and out of swarms, his ice blasting a way through as Fearlings snapped out at him with teeth and claws, a hand just managing to snatch at a handful of his hoody before he kicked away. He needed the others right now, he was being  
overwhelmed and one wrong move- 

He shrieked when two Fearlings charged him from either side, one slamming into his shoulder that he had to grab around its throat to stop it sinking its teeth into his skin and the other at his arm, snatching his staff away, the ancient wood being snapped up into pieces in fast little hands. They knew what they were doing, his mind screamed at him, they must of known he couldn't fly without his staff and with their job down they let him from go from their clutches.

And he fell. 

He only gave a light gasp as he plummeted, the dark cloud of Fearlings quickly farther and farther away. 

“Jack!” a multitude of voices screamed, so perhaps he really hadn't been that far from his friends after all, or at least they had managed to see his descent down. The Wind screamed around him, trying to snatch him up uselessly, but he just couldn't fly without his powers, his staff. Bunny had lectured him before how risky being so dependant on one conduit could be, saying they needed to train him out of it and they would teach him how to channel his magic without the item, they never found the time for that lesson. 

He might die, the thought flashed through his mind, he had fallen from the sky before but this was hundreds of miles up, so far surely even enough to kill an immortal, his first death falling through ice and now his second falling from the sky, he would never get to say goodbye to Jamie, to Sophie or any of his beloved children. 

The ground rushed up to meet him and he smashed down with all the force of a meteor, the air violently stolen from his lungs as his eyes rolled back in his skull. After what felt like the worst few minutes of his life he groaned, lucidly coming back to himself and his face pinched in pain. So not instant death then but he had still landed on his back his spine may be broken, he still could be dying. He managed to drag his eyes open and saw what he really didn't want to see, a Fearling landing down on the edge of the creator he had made, sniffing down along to him and its horrible eyes locked on him in glee. He tried to get up, he tried so hard to move, to fight back, but he could only just lift his hand to push at the monster weakly with all the strength of a newborn baby.

Please not this, please anything but this, he wished the fall had killed him and he despaired the fact he was still alive. “No! Please!” he begged, a useless thing to do in the face of a monster. The Fearling ducked its head and sank its teeth into his wrist as he palmed at its shoulder. It hurt and he yelped out but it was gone as soon as it had come and the creature sat back, its large empty eyes merely watching him as it choked out a noise that sounded somewhat like a giggle, pleased with itself. 

Jack's eyes widened as it simply sat and looked at him, the horror dawning that his worst fears had been correct, it wasn't going to end him, it could easily tear him apart but it didn't want that, it wanted him to suffer, to be corrupted by the darkness and turned into one of them. The others hadn't spared him from the knowledge of how Pitch made his Fearlings, they had warned him the Nightmare King had always preferred corrupted Guardians to dead Guardians. Death would have been the kinder way out. 

“Well, well, well” the smooth voice washed over him, Pitch Black himself stepping along side him, hands clasped loosely behind his back and a twisted pleasure in his golden eyes. “Look who we have here, Jack Frost” 

“Do I really have to spend my last moments listening to another gloating monologue from you?!” he snarked back, because he wouldn't let himself show any weakness to his enemy and if he was about to die he was damn sure he was going out with at least a few snappy comebacks. 

“Always so feisty, I'll have that temper put to good use when you're one of my creatures” Pitch grinned more as Jack's glare lost some of its power.

“Why don't you just kill me instead? You really wanna spend the rest of forever with me mocking you?” he tried to be brave, digging deep into centuries of building emotional walls and his 'I don't care' attitude. Please let Pitch just kill him, please let him die with his own mind and not as some horrible monster. 

“I told you before, nothing goes together better than cold and dark, besides, when you're mine you won't have the frankly annoying personality you do now” he knelt beside the boy, his long thin fingers wrapping around his throat and pulling him up, his lips just touching the Guardian's. 

Jack squirmed in his grip, struggling to tilt his head away “You sure about that? I'm telling you I have centuries practice of being annoying, I'm basically a pro at it that won't change” 

The corner of Pitch's mouth twitched higher up, splitting his face in a grin as his tongue flicked out to swipe across the boy's lips “Do you really think you will not change? Mhmm breaking you will be so enjoyable” his fingers clenched harder at his throat, Jack choking and scrabbling at his hand. The pleased grin turned into an aggressive snarl as Pitch slammed Jack back down into the hard earth, his skull hitting painfully against a rock, his other hand catching up the boy's arm and twisting it around to him showing his own injury. The Fearling's bite looked rotten, like it had already been festering for weeks with an icy trail of blood down his forearm and across his fingers. It wasn't bleeding anymore and he didn't know if that was thanks to his own powers or the way his once pale flesh was black like frostbite. The darkness was already inside him and had already started to infect more, blood vessels around the bite wound standing out in sharp inky relief against his snowy skin. 

Jack hacked out a wet gasp “... So what? You gonna try ripping my heart out like you tried with Nightlight?” he panted, shifting his grip on the hand locked around his wind pipe. “I won't let you!” 

“Oh Jaaacccckkkk” Pitch smirked again, his long clawed fingers trailing along the boy's darkened veins. “That is the quick and kind way and I plan on taking my time with you, taking pleasure in every second of your pain” his nails dug in to his soft skin “This will slowly travel through your body, when it reaches your heart it will begin to infest it, rot it out from the inside while you feel yourself dissolve and I promise you it will not happen quickly, you are going to suffer” 

“Y-you sure are a barrel of laughs, huh” the boy gasped out even though his voice wobbled in a way that had nothing to do with the hand locked around his neck, the dread settling thick and fast in his stomach.

Pitch's eyes gleamed “You're frightened” Jack coughed out a breath, ready to argue “I know you are, I can taste it” he lifted the boy's arm to his mouth and his dark tongue flicked out to swipe in the infected wound, giving a pleasured groan. “It's alright now Jack, give yourself to it, let it have you” his other hand reached down to aid in choking the young Guardian, the boy's eyes rolling back. 

Without warning a shining golden rope wrapped itself around Pitch's arm and tore him away, viciously throwing him across the ground, Jack wheezed out sharply, his mouth wide open gulping in as much air as he could.

“What?! Sanderson!” Pitch hissed, dragging himself up to stand and glaring at the Guardian of Dreams who landed beside his friend, using another whip of sand to slice at the Fearling nearby and chase it away. 

“Sandy” Jack gasped, trying to roll onto his side towards him and Sandy hushed him with a kind hand brushing against his hair and a worried glance over his shoulder, standing in between the Nightmare king and the boy. 

“You want to try taking me on alone again?” Pitch mocked, his arms open with an invitation to fight “You can't protect him he will be mine!” Sandy glared but calmly raised one judgemental eyebrow and pointed behind their enemy, Pitch baulked and turned just in time to see the sleigh come barrelling towards him, North at the helm with his swords drawn. With a yelp Pitch melted down into his shadows, nothing more than a darkness skittering along the ground that the others chased onwards and away. 

There was a light thump beside his head as Sandy sat down and warm gentle hands had pulled him to rest his head on his lap, fingers stroking through his frosted hair.

“Sandy” he tried again, he had to tell him, had to warn him. He was a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any moment, the last time he had been hurt in a fight with a particularly nasty Wendigo the others had scraped him up and taken him back home to the North Pole where he had awoken tucked in his bed a few hours later. What if he past out now and the same thing happened, what if they took him home and during the night he woke up not as himself but a vicious monster, a Fearling in the heart of a Guardian's home wasn't an idea he could bear thinking about, it wasn't an option. 

With a warm glowing light Sandy's magic reached out to him, tendrils brushing against his cheek and across his shoulders to soothe him. Jack quietened down in his tender hold, he knew for sure he couldn't get up if he wanted to, unsure if it was the fall, the loss of his staff or the corruption running through his blood or a combination of all three but he certainly couldn't get away by choice if he began to change here and now. But right at this moment he was safe and he was loved, Sandy's small fingers combing his hair and massaging his forehead in a gentleness he hadn't known since his mother, as selfish as it may have been he didn't want the moment to end just yet. 

“Sandy, thanks for being here” he breathed out, strangely content despite what had happened. The Guardian of Dreams smiled down warmly at him, so much care in his golden eyes. 

A jingling of bells announced the sleigh was back, skidding along to a stop and the other three Guardians running towards them. “Jack!” Tooth cried, coming to sit in the crater at his side and her hand cupping his cheek. 

“Pitch disappeared, probably back up there” North answered Sandy's question when the little man had looked at him with a brow raised, the Cossack nodding up at the swirling mass of Fearlings above their heads in the sky. 

“Right mate, what hurts the most?” Bunny asked, kneeling on the boy's other side having already stripped off his bandolier and digging his paws through the pockets to find the assorted items for first aid he always carried with him. 

Jack whined “Guys no, you have to leave me”

“We are not leaving” North huffed, disgust in his voice at the very idea, crouching down with the others. 

“You don't understand, I've been bitten... I'm corrupted, you need to leave me here, save the kids” he lifted up his arm as his baby blue eyes peered around at them, all of them staring widely back all of a sudden very quiet. He couldn't bare the idea of them leaving him to turn here alone, but it was the safest thing for them, for the children they still needed to save. He wasn't going to let his last lucid act be selfish and risk lives just because he didn't want to be alone at the end, he had been alone at the start of his life might as well finish it the same way. 

North swallowed thickly, his eyes shining with sadness “Jack... we are not leaving, you will be fine”

“Don't lie to him” Bunny spat, his ears pressed flat down. 

“I am just trying not to upset him!” the Cossack snarled back. 

“Givin' false promises an' lyin' don't make anyone feel better!”

“Guys please” the boy's frightened whisper made all of them look back to him, Bunny's paws holding tight around either side of the bite wound. “Just go”

“Not givin' up that easily, right we need a plan” Bunny spoke up, looking around the three others determined “We gotta get him back to the Pole an' I've got the most experience with Fearlings, you lot stay and clear up?” 

North was nodding along “Take Sandy with you, he'll help keep things calm, Toothy you will be alright here with me?” 

Tooth's feathered fluffed up as her eyes flicked around the gathering and then turned down to Jack, her vision awash with tears. “I don't want to leave him”

North's expression softened “I am not wanting that either but we cannot leave Pitch here, children will die”

The fairy took in a harsh breath, blinking furiously. She wanted to argue and scream to stay with Jack, because the chances were she would never see him again and that he would either die during the transformation or there would be a Fearling staring at her through his eyes when she next looked into them, they had never been able to stop someone falling to Pitch's corruption before. Yet she was a Guardian and that meant more than just a fancy title and some bed time stories about her, she had sworn to protect the children of the world, they were more important and had to come first, always. No matter their love for each other in the end Guardians had to give up everything for their cause, the children's lives were more important than Jack's. “Sweet-Tooth” she murmured, both of her hands cupping the boy's face. 

“Mmm?” his eyes stared up at her, so trusting and full of love. 

“We have to go protect the little ones but we love you so much, you must never forget that” she leaned down to touch her forehead to his. “You better be here when we return” she growled like it was the official order of the queen they could very easily forget she was. Jack pressed his lips to her cheek as she pulled away then she was fiddling with her sword for a moment, reaching behind herself before pressing one of her own tail feathers into his hand, cut at the quick. “Take this, it might help, if you need to remember us” 

North was shrugging off his coat when the boy glanced up at him following her example, Jack would need their magic of memories and wonder if he had a chance of fighting off the corruption and items belonging to them that held their essence would have to do if they couldn't be there in person. He bundled the youngest Guardian up and lifted him into Bunny's arms, his hand pausing to stroke through Jack's hair. “Good luck my boy” 

Sand swirled through the air to form a little aeroplane sitting on the ground ready to leave, Sandy already placing himself in the pilot's seat. Bunny climbing into the back with Jack curled up on his lap, the Pooka paused for a moment looking around. “Wait, where's his staff?” 

“They broke it before I fell” Jack sighed, trying to get comfortable. 

“Strewth, North, Tooth, the staffs in pieces somewhere, if ya can track it down bring it back” Bunny called back to the pair on the ground, who nodded before going off to fight back Pitch's attack. The plane took off, keeping low to avoid the Fearlings up ahead until they were clear of them and flying off into the night sky, the moon glowing brightly above them. 

Jack would normally be embarrassed to admit how comfortable he was, but the coat was worn soft and warm as well as smelling like North, like his home in the Pole and Bunny's arms were wrapped firmly around him, one paw at the back of his neck and stroking. 

The Pooka's voice rumbled in his chest as he spoke, the boy's ear pressed over his warm fur. “So how was Jamie an' Sophie today?” 

Jack was a little perplexed “... They're fine”

“Yeah? What they learnin' in school?” 

“Do you really wanna know about that right now?” he hissed out, his fingers clutching at Tooth's feather anxiously. 

“We need you to stay as calm as possible, bein' scared will only make it worse so yes I wanna know, what did they learn in school?” Bunny spoke gently, his paw tucking the coat up around his head and cradling him to his chest. 

Jack blinked in understanding, he was trying to distract his mind, trying to keep him calm so he wouldn't be filled with fear that would only speed up the corruption. “Am I gonna turn into a Fearling?” he demanded. 

Bunny sighed “You might, I can't make any promises either way”

“I thought you were meant to be the Guardian of hope” the boy bit out harshly. 

“I'm the Guardian of hope not of false hope, I know best of all it ain't right to be promisin' things that might be impossible, it's just cruel” Bunny spoke sternly and after Jack whined a sob he pulled back so he could see down into his eyes, a paw curled under his jaw tilting him to look up. “Now mate, that don't mean I ain't gonna fight with everythin' that I am fer ya, we're gonna do our very best Sandy and me, an' North an' Tooth down there fightin' fer ya just as much and I will promise you one thing. No matter what happens we will always love you, if ya live we will love you an' spend the rest of our lives makin' sure every day you know it but if ya turn we will still love you, if you die we will love you, if ya turn and end up hurtin' someone we will love you, we will always love you an' nothin' in the world will ever change that” 

Jack couldn't help the sobs that slipped out as he hid his face down into Bunny's ruff and then groaned in despair as he felt the corruption claw further up, past his elbow now heading for his shoulder. “Hurts” he cursed. 

“I know yer scared but ya gotta try an' hold on as long as you can” Bunny's paw never stopped stroking at the back of his head, the constant motion soothing and grounding. “Now Jackie, what did the kids learn in school?”

The younger Guardian sucked in a harsh breath, letting the words come quietly and shaky from his lips, recounting everything his two favourite children had told him about that afternoon when he had visited them, spending a few hours playing with them and listening to all their thoughts and opinions on the world around them. Bunny was right, it did help a little and before he knew it they were landing down at the North Pole, pulling in by the reindeer's stables. The Pooka leaping out of the plane that dissolved down back into sand and rushing through with the boy in his arms, Sandy at their side. Jack pulled North's coat further over his head as they went, not wanting to see the elves and yetis staring at him as they continued through the factory, through hallways and up stairs to a place he had never been to before, Sandy throwing open the door for them. 

The air was still and warm here, heavy with dust that spoke of how long it had been since someone had last been here, pressed against Bunny's chest under the coat Jack couldn't see much around him but he could look up and see a high domed roof before he was being laid down in an old small bed, with North's coat against his back beneath him and Tooth's feather under his head across the pillow. There was a loud groan of metal and wood before the ceiling seemed to crack straight along the centre of the dome and pull apart, revealing the calm night sky outside. 

“This is the old observatory, Nightlight used to come up here a lot, he said he felt safer being closer to the moon” Bunny answered his unasked questions, shaking the bedsheets free of dust. Sandy returned to their side, having gone to flip the switch to open the roof up, his little fingers tugging at Jack's hoody. “Good idea” the Pooka nodded. “Jack, we're gonna get this off you” he explained as he helped the boy out of the clothing who didn't argue. “Think the more contact with the light you have the better”

Jack nodded with a sigh as he settled back down in the bed, blinking as the moonlight poured in over him, laying here he could see the Moon, so big and close, the whole galaxy seemingly within his reach. He glanced over down his to his wrist and screamed, his entire hand grey and a pattern not unlike his frost from his black blood vessels, the corruption had spread up past his shoulder, trailing along his collar bone and he imagined to his neck. “Bunny! Sandy! Help, oh no, oh please no” 

“Jack, don't look at it!” Bunny growled out, his paw curling around the boy's jaw and turning his face away, blocking his view. The space around them glowed with a soothing warmth, Sandy's magic swirling around them, reaching out to stroke at his face trying to calm him but he could see the fear in Bunny's eyes, the Pooka never had been very good at keeping calm himself, and the tightness in Sandy's brow, they were both terrified for him. He cried out and shook in their hands, darkness spidering along through his skin along aiming downwards towards his heart. Bunny shredded a strip of cloth from the old bed sheets, holding it in his paws as he caught Jack's eyes. “Jackie you gotta trust us, alright? Now I'm gonna put this over your eyes, just like that” he explained, securing it at the back of his head, completely taking away all sight. 

“Why? I can't see the moon anymore” the boy worried, Sandy sitting himself beside his pillow, his magic trailing all over him. 

“To keep you focused, besides the light will do just touchin' yer skin, don't need to see it” the boy nodded stiffly, biting at his lower lip anxiously. “Right, we're gonna just relax and try some breathin' exercises” 

“You make it sound like I'm having a baby” Jack couldn't help but give a weak chuckle. 

“If it makes it better then yes I'm willin' to be yer midwife, dress an' all” Bunny grinned back, gently trying to probe with his magic at the boy, trying to find his centre and when Jack gave another laugh at the idea he could see it in his mind eye, his joy still trying to shine brightly despite the on coming corruption, finding it with his own centre and wrapped his hope around it, giving him strength. Sandy's magic followed him in, like wandering through a dark forest to find their lights, building the power. 

Jack listened as Bunny lead him through the breathing exercises, his hand clasped firmly between two warm paws while Sandy held his other. “Feels weird” he sighed. 

“Good or bad weird?” 

“I dunno just really odd, its like I can feel you both in me, like in my soul or something” Jack yawned out, feeling weary. He felt so horrendously weak and on display to them without his eyesight, the cloth sitting roughly across his face and he could only guess at how bad the corruption looked now, he didn't want to know because he knew the answer wasn't anything good. 

“That's us there protectin' yer centre, yer joy, it's alright we got you” Bunny soothed, one paw moving to caress his face.

He tried to relax in their hold but he could feel it, lurking inside the corruption was there, slinking ever on, ever deeper and it hurt, the pain only getting stronger. He occasionally let out a whimper or moan, their hands tending to him, stroking his face or hair as it cut in more, like rotten vines growing through his body. 

Something was whispering to him from inside his own mind, something awful. 

The sand shifted in the air, Sandy was saying something he couldn't see and Bunny hissed out an frustrated “I know” 

The youngest Guardian reached out with his own fading magic, the connection the others had started was a two way path and he could feel both of them and an idea of what they were feeling, they were terrified. Bunny's hope was stubborn, an utter and complete refusal to give up despite what he could tell was happening, Sandy more openly upset, more realistic to the reality of what was happening. 

They both knew he wouldn't make it. 

The whispering grew louder as it began to deafen out other thoughts, pushing harder and harder at him to give in, to let it have him. 

“Guys?” he murmured after a long while, his voice tight and worn as his knuckles clenched white in their hands. 

“Yeah?” 

“I don't want to be a Fearling” he said simply. 

“Strewth Jack, we know, we're tryin!” the Pooka sounded a little hysterical, Sandy's thumb rubbing along his cheek in the lightest of motions to prove to him he was still trying, still here with him. 

“I know... but if … if you can't stop it will you kill me? Please?” the thing in his mind laughed at him as he spoke. 

“Jack...” he thought he could hear tears in the Guardian of hope's voice, Sandy's little hands clutching harder at him, his sand holding him. 

“Please, Pitch will use me to kill you, to kill Jamie and Sophie, I wanna die by my own terms with my own mind knowing who I am” he whined, he had spent so long trying to find out who he was, the idea of dying as a brainless creature doing things he had sworn against was the worst thing he could imagine. “Please don't let it take that away from me, don't let it take my love for you guys” 

They both were definitely crying now. 

Jack only could lay back and try to ignore the feeling of something so very wrong taking over his body. It seemed a few hours may have gone past, perhaps really they hadn't and he couldn't just tell anymore but he seized up, his head pressed hard against the pillows as his back arched in pain and he began to scream. His body thrashing in spasming throes while they held him down, the burning wrongness deep somewhere in his chest, in his heart. 

After a horrendously long time he settled quietly, his breathing hard and pained, the cloth across his eyes soaked with tears. “... what's wrong with my eyes?” he asked in a small voice. 

“... Jackie?” the reply came tiredly, worn out from the heart ache. 

“Why can't I see?” he asked, trying to shift out of their grasp to feel at his face but they wouldn't let him. 

“Don't ya remember?” 

“...No?” had he forgotten something? He felt there was a reason he couldn't see but what was it? Wasn't there a magic feather from Tooth that was supposed to help him remember things? And who was Tooth? The person who held his hand with fluffy paws cursed under their breath, a frantic shifting of air and magic from the other side. “It really hurts...” he whined. 

“... Do ya remember us?” 

He gave a jerked nod in response “Of course I do, you're important to me” he spoke and the others with him seemed a soothed by it “... why are you important?” he then cried out in pain again, gasping out but not seeming to be able to get enough air. 

“Shhh, it's alright, we're here” hands stroked at his face, it didn't help much. 

His cries cut off as he convulsed, then again and again. 

It hurt so much, he could feel his mind disintegrating piece by piece, like someone walking around a house and blowing out one candle at a time, soon there would only be darkness left. 

“Please!” he cried, tears soaking through the cloth to streak along his face “Help me” 

“Jack, I'm so sorry, we can't …. “ the voice was cut off as the air swirled curiously around them “Sandy there's gotta be somethin' else! …. I know yer right I just.... I know …. Jackie? We'll help... yer just gonna go to sleep now, yeah? That's it just relax we got you, we love you”

He hummed appreciatively, to be loved was a good happy thing, something he very much enjoyed. He tried to relax as he was told as the smaller one laid a hand over his forehead, magic all around him as he drifted of to sleep. 

When his eyes next fluttered open he was completely confused. 

The early dawn came dazzlingly through the large bedroom window, his bedroom window, in his own bed in the Pole. That was a weird dream, he thought sleepily and letting his head rest back into the pillow when he noticed Tooth curled up with her arms locked around his chest.

What?

He struggled upwards, knocking not only her arms but others off as well, bleary eyed he peered around him at the pile of sleeping Guardians. Either it was Christmas again with North's killer bourbon eggnog or something just plain odd had happened. Tooth yawned at his side, her small fist moving to rub at her eyes, she blinked and saw he was awake. 

“Jack!” she squealed launching herself at him and toppling them into the sleeping pile, multiple groans heard as they woke up. “It's wonderful to see you! I can't believe it you're here and you're you! I'm so happy!”

“Um thanks? … What happened?” Jack mumbled, the lot of them shifting around him. 

“Jack!” Bunny's arms wrapped around him and he was suddenly pinned against his fluffy chest, Sandy and North both crowding on either side and hands all over him. 

“Guys!” he half laughed and shrieked “What's the deal... wait!” the memories hit him like a ton of brick and he struggled to yank his arm free of Sandy's cuddle, pulling down his sleeve to see his wrist scarred over, the spider web of what had been darkness now shining in the light with his ice. So it was true, that wasn't a dream. “I was corrupted!” he breathed, his fingers touching the scar in wonder. 

“Yes but now you are all better!” North beamed, his large hand enthusiastically rubbing at the boy's shoulder. 

“How?” he bit out, not quite believing it was possible himself. 

Tooth took a hold of his hand, her large violet eyes gazing at him carefully “We really don't know, you were nearly a Fearling and then it just stopped? Maybe it was because North and I arrived and you had all of our magic together? Maybe the Man in the Moon did something? Whatever it was we're just so relieved you're safe”

Jack couldn't help but return the smile she gave him, his eyes moving to where Bunny and Sandy sat side by side giving him equally warm looks full of love and he felt his cheeks frosting over slightly. He remembered begging them for death and that was something they surely had to deal with later, if only to make sure the pair of them were alright if nothing else but that could wait for now his stomach was rumbling. 

“Wow, wild night huh guys? Lets not do that again any time soon” he slid out from their grasp, landing his feet on the floor where he discovered his staff in one whole piece leaning beside the headboard where he always kept it and snagged it over his shoulder, casual as anything. How on earth they had found the pieces and restored it was another question but again one for another time. 

“So who wants pancakes? I'm making, dancing with nearly becoming a creature of darkness really stirs up a guys appetite” he grinned back at his family, who were worth everything in the world to him and he swore to himself he would never stop fighting for them. Not even Pitch Black would stop him no matter how hard he might try.


End file.
